We live in an interconnected world where the ease of sharing data has made it simpler for businesses to function better. It also gives the scope for people to exploit others’ vulnerabilities. Document fraud is a common phenomenon today where official documents get altered and it poses a heavy threat to businesses.
The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reported that check fraud was reported over 350,000 times in 2021, which increased to 680,000 times in 2022. However, today technologically advanced tools are being used to prevent document fraud as much as possible.
In this article, we will discuss document fraud, how to recognize this threat, and how organizations can stay away from document fraud.
Understanding Document Fraud
Simply put, document fraud is an illegal process of altering, forging, or misusing official documents for any type of personal gain. It can comprise a wide range of activities, including identity theft, rental application fraud, counterfeiting, and even developing false credentials or records.
Here, the fraudsters manipulate the documents to have complete access to financial resources, misrepresent the qualifications and identity of people, and create false legal documents.
How To Recognize Fraud Documents?
Today, document fraud can take place in several forms. Here the fraudsters can create accounts and identities that are fake but look authentic. The new-age forgeries are sophisticated, and it might not raise any doubt. To stay away from this type of fraud, it is necessary to know a few signs that will help you stay safe.
A few things to note include:
- Keep an eye out for discrepancies in the document formatting, font type, and size. In a fraud document, not everything will line up correctly. There will be a few letters that will appear blurrier compared to others. The other signs of fraud include altered images, missing data, or incorrect binding or laminating.
- A few other signs include smudged stamps, nuclear signatures, and even missing official seals, which can suggest unauthorized alterations and even counterfeited documents.
- Finally, you shouldn’t be overlooking any kind of incorrect data. There can be wrong dates, spelling mistakes, and even mismatched data in the document section, which will denote that the document is altered.
The Necessary Steps to Prevent Document Fraud
Prevention is the ultimate solution when you want to keep your company secured from any kind of document fraud. Are you wondering how to go about it? If so, the following steps will help:
Employee Training and Awareness
Employee training and awareness are essential when you want to eliminate document fraud from your company. It helps to save your business from any future financial loss along with legal issues. That aside, it can also keep you secure from facing any embarrassment of falling prey to a fraudster who duplicates your ID and creates havoc in the business. Therefore, it is necessary to train your employees on how to identify fake documents.
Database or Network Detectors
This is another essential step that companies need to implement when they want to prevent document fraud. Here, the database or the network detectors screen any new document so that they can keep an eye on any fraud. It helps to locate any minute forgeries that otherwise might not be visible.
Document Verification Solution
Companies can invest in a document verification solution that can check a wide range of documents like driver’s licenses, passports, and even national IDs. The new-age solutions also help in automated data extraction and document authentication. The service providers will act as an ID verification vendor and detect any visible fraud. It will ensure that the employees you have in your organization come from secure backgrounds. And if anyone tries to submit fake documents, they can be removed right at the beginning.
For identity verification, document verification is an important step. It includes the authentication of several official documents that help in effective employee background screening. AU10TIX states that the leading market players in this category make use of advanced technology to precisely validate, capture, and standardize data from all these documents. It helps to improve reliability and security in the identity verification process.
In conclusion, when your crucial data gets compromised because of document fraud, it can cost your brand reputation. It can make your investors sever ties with you and even employees leave your company and join other market players. Hence, companies who want to keep their business environment and employees safe should invest in document verification solutions. It will go a long way in expanding your business and staying safe from fraudsters.
